Reclaimed By My Ex-husband
Chapter 26: The echo of the past

Chapter 26: The echo of the past

Later that evening...

Zara leaned back on the headboard of her bed in her quiet room, propping up her bandaged leg on a pillow. The day had dragged, each hour ticking by with the dull ache of missing Zane. She reached for her phone to distract herself.

A new notification from social media lit up the screen.

It was a post from Nathaniel.

Curious, she opened it and immediately, her lips curved into a smile.

The photographs of Zane and Nathaniel at the amusement park, beaming, flashed on the screen.

The first photo showed Zane on Nathaniel’s shoulders, cotton candy in one hand, his little face glowing with joy. Another one had them screaming mid-air on a roller coaster, Nathaniel gripping Zane protectively while Zane’s laughter lit up his face.

In the final picture, they sat together with matching ice cream cones, Zane leaning into his father, cheeks smudged with chocolate.

Zara’s heart swelled. She tapped through the pictures slowly, absorbing every detail—Zane’s unfiltered laughter, Nathaniel’s quiet attentiveness, the way their hands stayed linked in almost every frame.

Any trace of disappointment or guilt she had been harboring for missing the day melted away. Her son was happy. That was all that mattered.

She pressed the like button under the photos.

Nathaniel, on the other end, got the notification. His finger hovered over her number before he finally pressed the call button.

Zara flinched when his name blinked onto her screen. For a moment, she just stared at it. Then, taking a deep breath, she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey. How is your leg?" he asked carefully.

He already knew what had happened. Roberto had filled him in. Zara had been taken to the hospital after falling and aggravating her already sprained leg. What he didn’t know was that she had been at her father’s place and that things had ended in a heated argument.

Nathaniel felt the guilt. He should’ve been there by her side at the hospital.

"The doctor said I need a few days of bed rest," Zara replied, her voice distant.

"Why didn’t you call me?" He sounded like complaining. "You were in the hospital. I would’ve come."

"There was no need," she said bluntly. "I had friends with me."

"I’m still your husband," Nathaniel snapped, his frustration leaking through. "Why wouldn’t you tell me?"

Zara’s tone sharpened. "You asked for a divorce. Remember?"

Silence hit for a second, and then she added, "Why would I ask you to come to the hospital? You’ve made it clear how much I matter. Think back—when I had food poisoning and needed help, I did call. And what did you say? ’Don’t disturb me, I’m at work.’" Her voice cracked as she remembered the incident two years ago. "You are always too busy. I learned not to expect anything else."

Her words hit Nathaniel like a blade straight to the chest, sudden and merciless.

He was instantly pulled back in time. He was in the middle of a high-stakes conference with an overseas client when the phone buzzed with Zara’s name on the screen. He had dismissed it without hesitation, choosing business over her.

He hadn’t thought much of it since. It was a moment long buried in the past. He had no idea she had been carrying that hurt with her all this time.

"This isn’t the only time you ignored me," she went on. "You were never really there for me. I waited for you on every anniversary. You’d show up late—or not at all. No calls. No flowers. Not even a text. You never celebrated my birthday."

Nathaniel stayed silent. Every word she said was true.

"I kept pretending everything was fine," Zara continued bitterly. "I smiled through it all, made sure your shirts were ironed, made your coffee just the way you liked it. I even hid when I was sick because I didn’t want to bother you."

She let out a self-mocking laugh.

"I was so stupid. I gave everything and got nothing. The truth is, I was never your wife, not really. It was always Nora. She is the one who lives in your heart even after all these years."

Her voice broke on that last line. She pressed her lips together to stop the sob threatening to escape.

Nathaniel couldn’t find the words. Whatever she had said was right. He had not loved her, not the way a husband should. He married her for Zane, for duty, not for love. He had kept his distance, raised his walls up, and emotions in check.

And yet something twisted deep inside him as he heard those words. He told himself he didn’t love her. Then why did her pain feel like it was tearing him open from the inside?

"Tell me, why should I bother you?" Zara’s voice pierced his thoughts, pulling him back to the present. "I stopped expecting you to be there for me because you never were."

Her tears finally broke free. The memory of her agonizing death in her previous life still haunted her. Nathaniel’s cold words from that moment echoed relentlessly: ’Don’t call me unless she is dead.’

She couldn’t erase the cruelty of that sentence, no matter how much time had passed.

"You wouldn’t care even if I were dying."

That line hit Nathaniel like a blow to the gut. Something clenched inside him. His chest tightened.

"Are you out of your mind?" he snapped, his voice rising. "Why are you talking about dying? I’ve been working nonstop, not out partying. You make it sound like I abandoned you on purpose. Yes, I love Nora. That’s no secret. You have always known. You never complained before. So why now? Why throw it all on me?"

He paused, breathing heavily. "I accepted you as my wife, as Zane’s mother. But love? It can’t be forced, you know."

Zara snorted, wiping her face with the back of her hand. "Thank you for making that clear. I won’t force you to love me."

Beep

"Hey—" Nathaniel tried to speak, but it was too late. The line had gone dead.

He stared at the phone, stunned. Heat surged through him. Anger, regret, confusion—all tangled into one burning knot. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

He had planned to tell her that he was rethinking the divorce, that he wanted to try, to give their marriage a real chance for the first time. He had pictured her surprised, maybe even hopeful.

Instead, they had ended up arguing with each other.

His nostrils flared. The fury boiled over. He threw the phone across the room. It hit the wall and shattered, fragments scattering like the pieces.